Techland has announced that the PS3 and Xbox 360 versions of Dying Light have been canceled, while the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions are still alive and well.
Seeing Dying Light canceled for Xbox 360 and PS3 isn’t surprising, though it will certainly be a tough pill to swallow for gamers who don’t own a PS4 or Xbox One. The reason Dying Light was canceled for the current-gen systems seems to be largely technological.
In an open letter to gamers, Techland seemed pretty apologetic, though the logic makes complete sense. Here is their letter explaining Dying Light’s cancellation on PS3 and Xbox 360.
“As you probably know, we’re wrapping up the development of Dying Light, our biggest and most ambitious project to date. We spent the last three years making sure that all the features of our game add up to create a truly next-gen experience.
“Much of this ‘next-gen feel’ is tightly connected to the technological side of Dying Light. For instance, up to 200,000 objects can be displayed in the game at once. Add to this our use of realistic, physics-based lighting technology and you really start to push the next-gen systems to the limits. Features like these along with our core gameplay pillars – such as the player-empowering Natural Movement, threefold character development system, and vast open world – are all an inherent part of how Dying Light plays. However, combining all of these into one fluid experience is only possible on technologically advanced platforms.
“Therefore, after thorough internal testing, we have come to the conclusion that we have no choice but to leave past-gen systems behind and release Dying Light exclusively on the next-gen consoles and PC. Put simply, older consoles just couldn’t run the game and stay true to the core vision of Dying Light at the same time.
“To ensure you enjoy Dying Light as much as we would like you to, we chose to release it without any compromises on the three strongest systems available. Thanks to this, you’ll get the full and best experience regardless of the platform you play on.”
The Dying Light release date for Xbox One and PS4 hasn’t changed as a result of today’s news. The Dying Light release date rollout is as follows: Jan. 27, 2015 in the Americas, Jan. 28 in Australia and New Zealand, and Jan. 30 in Europe and Asia.
